Sunday, October 30, 2016

Where I stand on Election 2016

NOTE: This is being done as a public service. I am not telling you who to vote for or why you should vote for anything/anyone.

My choice for POTUS, Senator & U.S. Representative...

All of those offices are on the ballot here in my part of Louisiana. I chose Libertarians across the board.

Why would I choose Libertarians?

Simply put, they understand what Liberty actually is and the 2 major parties have forgotten. The Libertarian Party is not a 100% match for my ideals (and no one ever will be) but, they are soooooo much closer to the mark than Democrats or Republicans.

Furthermore, I am thoroughly disgusted with both major parties and refuse to support either of them. Don't bother giving me any of that tired old tripe/BULLSHIT about a 3rd party vote being a waste. Wasting a vote would mean supporting the career criminal with a (D) after her name or the raging asshole with the (R) after his name just to keep one of them from getting elected.

When these two Shitstains are your 'only' choices, you know that something has gone terribly wrong with our beloved Republic. My fellow Americans, we can do so much better than these two horrific misfits.

It must take an awful lot of brainwashing and Tribalism to believe that 'vote for Candidate A so Candidate B doesn't win' non-sense. No matter what anyone says, I refuse to even consider voting for either of them. I'd be ashamed of myself if I ever considered either of them for even the smallest fraction of a second: Planck time.

And there were more reasons than these for me to vote for the Libertarians...

Louisiana State Constitutional Amendments on the ballot this year...

There are also 6 new amendments being proposed for my state constitution in this election. My representative in the State Legislature sent out a mailer listing them and what each one would say. Here is what I decided with them...

LEGISLATIVE LANGUAGE:Do you support an amendment to provide that the manner of appointment for the registrar of voters in each parish is as provided by law and to require the qualifications of the registrar to be provided by law?

MY VOTE: FOR. The fact that they (currently) can hire any joker that wonders in off the street for something this important really worries me. There should be a hiring standard of some kind.

LEGISLATIVE LANGUAGE:Do you support an amendment to authorize the postsecondary education management boards to establish the tuition and mandatory fee amounts charged by institutions under their supervision and management, without legislative approval?

MY VOTE: AGAINST. College costs too much already and the current economy is making college degrees more and more worthless. There is no way in Hell that I'm going to allow the people running this state's public universities to start charging whatever they want. Most of it would probably just go into their pockets anyway.

LEGISLATIVE LANGUAGE:Do you support an amendment to eliminate the deductibility of federal income taxes paid in computing state corporate income taxes?

MY VOTE: AGAINST. Voting for this amendment would increase the tax burden for any company here in Louisiana. This state already has enough trouble attracting new businesses. We don't need to make the ones we already have pack up and leave.

LEGISLATIVE LANGUAGE:Do you support an amendment to authorize an exemption from ad valorem property tax for the total assessed value of the homestead of an unmarried surviving spouse of a person who died while on active duty as a member of the armed forces of the United States or the Louisiana National Guard, or while performing their duties as a state police, law enforcement, or fire protection officer?

MY VOTE: FOR. The grieving widow or widower has already lost a spouse and that spouse's income. They don't need to worry about the tax burden making it that much more likely that they'll also lose their home.

LEGISLATIVE LANGUAGE:Do you support an amendment to establish the Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund for the deposit of recurring mineral and corporate tax revenues, to restrict the use of the fund to 10% of the balance when the balance reaches $5 billion, to restrict the use of the fund to construction projects and transportation infrastructure, and to allocate recurring mineral revenues to the payment of state employee retirement debt?

MY VOTE: FOR. This would take the oil and gas taxes collected by the state and put them towards much-needed public works projects and retirement funds for state government employees. We need funding for those things very badly right now. The roads in Orleans Parish are an absolute disgrace.

LEGISLATIVE LANGUAGE:Do you support an amendment to authorize the use of up to five percent of current year appropriations or allocations from statutorily or certain constitutionally created funds or up to one percent of the current year’s balances in certain constitutionally created funds to eliminate a projected deficit in the next fiscal year if the official forecast for the next fiscal year is less than the official forecast for the current fiscal year or if the official forecast has been reduced by at least one percent from the most recently adopted estimate for the ensuing fiscal year, and to exempt certain funds and mandates from being used to eliminate a projected deficit?

MY VOTE: FOR. This increases the amounts of money from constitutional funds that can be used to close deficits in the state budget. Since we are currently having a budget problem here in Louisiana, this proposed amendment makes sense. It also prevents taxes from being raised and adds to the number of funds that cannot be touched for this purpose. The funds protected by this amendment include:

And that is how I voted, folks. Yes, I have voted already. There's early voting here in Louisiana and I took advantage of the opportunity on this past Thursday, October 27th. I thought I could avoid the Election Day crowds that way but, still had to wait an hour before getting to the booth. The fact that so many people showed up to vote early in the morning is very re-assuring to me. That shows that, despite having some really crappy POTUS candidates this time around, at least people still care. There may be hope for us yet...